Is This a Meeting or an Exam?
by IsebellaLynnette
Summary: For Rowana Renee's Secret Santa Challenge. Senior Ranger James Oakland is taking his apprentice Halt to Castle Araluen to see the Ranger Commandant and his apprentice, Crowley. What Halt wants to know is, will this encounter be a meeting or an exam?


As said in the summary, this is for Rowana Renee's Secret Santa Challenge. To the writer who requested this story, I apologize very much for the lateness. I hope you all enjoy, though as a warning, this is _the_ longest oneshot I've ever written.

**Disclaimer: Never have owned it, don't own it right now, and never will. Unfortunately.**

* * *

Senior Ranger James Oakland led his apprentice through Castle Araluen's mazelike hallways.

As his apprentice mumbled something about a coffee break, James growled, "Relax, boy. You'll only have to deal with two strangers today, and they don't bite. I promise."

His apprentice nodded, but his dark brown eyes still flitted about the hallway, taking in all of the gawking nobles and the ornate decorations.

James sighed and shook his head.

"Or you could have a nervous breakdown before you even see them," he muttered, pulling his apprentice along with a firm grip on his right arm.

* * *

"Tom?"

The Ranger Commandant sighed and took another sip of his coffee before answering his apprentice.

"Yes, Crowley? What is it now?"

"So...this apprentice of James that's coming to see us. What's he like?"

Tom sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair. "How in the world should I know? I haven't seen the boy before. James only said that he was from some foreign country and already had some skill with a bow. That's why he took the boy in as his apprentice."

Crowley poked his head into his mentor's office. "Surely James must have described his apprentice in some way, though. Like how old he is. Or what his name is. That would do well for starters. Maybe why he came here from a foreign country. And how tall is he? Is he as deviously handsome as me?" he asked, turning to look at himself in the mirror.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Crowley, sometimes I wonder about your sanity."

"Me too," his apprentice replied absently, engrossed in smoothing down the single strand of hair currently sticking up.

Tom shook his head at that and turned away, trying to focus back on the heap of unfiled paperwork that was due to the King in approximately four hours.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the main door. Crowley looked inquiringly at Tom, and when his mentor nodded, he rushed to the door and opened it with a flourish.

"James! Nice to see you again! Oh, is this your apprentice?" Crowley asked, sizing the boy up. Without waiting for a reply from James, he took the boy's hand and shook it vigorously, saying, "Hi there! I'm Crowley, and my mentor is Tom. We've been looking forward to your visit ever since we got the letter a week ago! So how is everything? Is James being a battered old tomcat? Because you need to tell Tom if he is. Tom will take care of any problems you have with your mentor in case something-"

"Crowley!" James shouted.

Crowley broke off mid-sentence and looked inquiringly up at James, who raised an eyebrow and pointed at his apprentice, who was blinking a lot, trying to process all of the words Crowley had just said.

"He's a foreigner," James mouthed.

"Oh," Crowley said stupidly. "Well, sorry about that, uh... What's his name again?" he asked James.

The corners of James' mouth lifted ever so slightly as he replied, "Halt."

"Halt?" Crowley asked, eyes widening. "You mean...stop what I'm doing? Oh, um...all right. Sorry about that, James, I didn't mean to-"

James sighed. "No, Crowley. That's his name. Halt."

Crowley's jaw dropped and he first stared at one visitor, then the other. "No way," he finally managed to say. "His name...his name is _Halt_? Seriously?"

The boy finally nodded and actually said something, albeit with a thick Hibernian accent: "Yes, that is my name."

"Oh, so you're from Hibernia! That's really-"

"And I don't want to go back," Halt said quietly.

Crowley blinked. "Um, all right. I'm fine with that. But anyway, just the fact that you're from-"

"Crowley, give the kid a chance to breathe."

This time, it was his own mentor who interrupted him, one eyebrow raised as he looked at his apprentice. Tom continued, saying to his visitors and completely ignoring Crowley, "Sorry about that. But anyway, welcome to Castle Araluen. James, have you given him his knives yet? You bombed the uniform part of the equation, so I doubt-"

But Tom stopped as Halt drew his saxe knife and throwing knife from his double scabbard that had been hidden behind his back.

"Well then, let's see how you use them. But first let's go outside," Tom said hastily as Halt drew back his right arm to throw.

* * *

"This," Tom said, sweeping his arm to one side, indicating the magnificent targets behind him, "is the Castle Araluen Shooting Range. There are all sorts of levels. This one can be used for shooting from fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty meters away from the targets, and they vary in size and height from the ground. But before you take your bow, let's walk over here to that grove of trees and test your throwing skills." As Tom led the way, Halt walked over to James and asked him something quietly; his mentor chuckled and gestured for Halt to take his place at the line twenty meters from the tree trunks.

"What did he say?" Tom whispered, so that Halt wouldn't hear him.

James shook his head, smiling faintly. "He asked if this was a meeting or an exam."

Just then, the throwing knife slammed blade first into the trunk of an oak tree, followed shortly by the saxe knife, which hit the tree hilt first.

"Did you do that on purpose, kid?" Tom asked slowly. For a month's training, that was impressive.

Halt nodded.

"Do it again," James said quietly. "But this time, aim for that maple tree to the right of the oak. And switch up the pattern a little bit."

Halt nodded, quickly retrieved his knives, returned to the starting line, and threw again.

This time, the saxe knife went first, quivering in the tree trunk while Halt sent the throwing knife, which whacked the hilt of the saxe knife with its own hilt.

Tom was slowly nodding to himself. "All right then, kid. Get your knives and put them back in your double scabbard, and then we'll test out your shooting skills."

Halt did as he was told and walked over to the shooting range, looking carefully at the posted distance signs while testing out the draw weight of his bow, making sure that it hadn't changed from what he was accustomed to.

"Which line are you going to start from, kid?" Tom asked. "It's up to you."

After a moment's hesitation, Halt backtracked from the fifteen-meter line past the twenty and thirty-meter lines to the forty-meter line.

As Tom and James exchanged glances, Crowley leaned forward to watch closely, concentrating on the targets to see where the arrows would hit.

Halt gazed at the first target, forty meters in front of him, filtering out all the other scenery and noise and whatnot until it was only him, the target, and the bow. He closed his eyes, planning out the flight path of the arrow beforehand, and then slowly, deliberately took out an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to the bowstring. Then he raised the bow, aimed while drawing back on the string, and finally released.

Suddenly his arms became a blur of motion-not quite as fast as senior Ranger standard, but pretty darned close-as he nocked, drew, and shot, all the way down the line of twenty-four targets, some high, some low, some big, some small.

But in his mind, they were only hurdles to jump to reach the finish. Petty obstacles that could combine to take him down if he let them, but would disappear without a trace if he took them on.

As he lowered his bow, he surveyed the results of his shooting and nodded in satisfaction. All twenty-four of his arrows had hit the inner ring of their respective target, and more than twenty of them had hit the bullseye itself. Just another reminder of how past experience and constant practice were so helpful in work status. And in tests of his ability.

Crowley's mouth was wide-open, so big that Halt thought it would reach the ground. He chuckled silently at the thought, but made sure to keep his face a mask as he turned back towards James and Tom.

"Well?" Halt asked quietly.

"Er...great job. You've only been training with James for a month?" Tom asked, glancing back one more time at the targets to make sure what he saw wasn't a trick of the light.

"Well...a month-and-a-half, really," Halt replied slowly.

James smiled briefly at Halt, a real, true smile that told Halt more about what his mentor thought about his performance than a hundred words would have. Then he said, "Get all your arrows out from the targets, and then I think we'd like to see you shoot from fifty meters back. Is that all right?"

Halt nodded, already planning on his shooting style as he trudged over to the first target.

Tom whistled under his breath so that only James, his closest friend ever since childhood, could hear him.

"How long did the kid tell you he'd been training with the bow?"

"Ever since he turned thirteen," James replied just as quietly. "So, more than three years now, because he's sixteen."

Tom shook his head. "No wonder. Well, we'll see how he does from the fifty-meter line."

But Halt seemed unfazed as he took up his shooting position again, his face a mask as he gazed at that first target, completely focused on it for the second time that day.

_Fifty meters. I've done that before. And all the practice with James will have helped. So don't even think about screwing up,_ he told himself, breathing in and out deeply, but slowly, not panting or wheezing.

Then he was off, nocking arrows, drawing back on the bowstring while raising the bow and taking aim, and finally releasing, and then repeating the process for the next twenty-three targets. When he was done, he looked over the targets, nodding in satisfaction at most, frowning a little at a few, but mostly happy with what he'd done.

All but four of his arrows had landed in the inner rings of their respective targets.

"Bravo!" Crowley exclaimed, clapping and whooping for Halt, who smiled slightly back at him. With a start, Crowley realized that it was the first time he'd seen him smile. The fact that _he_, Crowley, the most annoying Ranger apprentice in the whole history of the Corps, had managed to make this foreigner feel happy, just melted his heart.

"That shooting was excellent, Halt," James said quietly. "I do believe that you are now officially a part of the Corps. Right, Tom?" the senior Ranger asked, glaring at the Commandant.

Tom nodded several times, not at all wanting to get on James' bad side, not at all liking the glint in his friend's steely gray eyes.

"Yes, that's right. There's no way the King will forbid your apprenticeship now, after a performance like the one you gave us three. No, he'll be delighted to have such an expert shooter on our side," Tom babbled, trying not to sound nervous or flustered and failing miserably. "And if he isn't, you can be sure that I'll talk some sense into him. But imagine!" He gave a high-pitched laugh. "A Ranger ordering the King around, when the King is the oldest government worker in this whole Kingdom!"

And then he was off, hurrying back towards his office in the Castle.

Crowley knew he had to follow his mentor, but he had to say one last thing to Halt.

"Thanks for visiting us today, Halt, and for showing me what level I have to reach." The young apprentice, one year younger than Halt, grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Though I'm not sure exactly when I'll reach that level...thanks again! Any time you want to visit, don't hesitate to drop in. We'll be more than happy to make you-and James, because I really don't want to forget about him-happy here at Castle Araluen," Crowley said, smiling broadly. "I'm looking forward to seeing you more often, Halt."

Halt nodded and replied, "Thanks, Crowley. I feel the same way."

His own words surprised himself. He was actually looking forward to seeing this hyperactive, completely mental Ranger apprentice more often? Well, that was something new. On top of that, he couldn't ever remember a time when he'd been so open with someone besides his sister Caitlyn, or perhaps James.

Crowley stuck out his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Halt took it, and the two boys firmly shook hands, looking each other in the eyes, each liking what they saw.

"See you soon!" Crowley called, still waving and shouting long after the two visitors had disappeared into the forest surround Castle Araluen.

Halt had turned once and waved back, but then concentrated back on what James was telling him.

"So that's why you need to remember, always look up. Got it?"

Halt looked up at his mentor and nodded, once.

"Oh, and by the way...Halt, that shooting truly was amazing," James said, looking deep into his apprentice's eyes. "I'm serious, that's the best I've ever seen you shoot. I don't think you've done that well even after all those practice sessions back at my cabin. So what was it? What did the trick? What stopped you from having a nervous breakdown like you normally would?"

Halt hesitated. He wasn't quite sure himself. But, as he thought more about it, an answer came to mind. Two, actually, though he only told James one of them.

"Well...it felt like Tom was trying to...like he was challenging me, scoffing my abilities, daring me to prove him wrong. Like he didn't think I'd be able to do anything."

James glanced down at the longbow Halt held in his shaking hands. He looked back into his apprentice's eyes and sighed.

"Look, I'm sure Tom didn't mean it that way, Halt. He's been a little overloaded...scratch that, _extremely_ overloaded in his work lately," James explained gently, not wanting to give excuses for his friend, but not wanting Halt to hate his Commandant after only their first time seeing each other. "You realize that this is our capital fief, where the King and the rest of the royal family live?"

Halt nodded.

"Well, since Tom is the Ranger for this fief, he's got the most work to do out of all fifty of us full-fledged Rangers. Not only does he have to constantly patrol the fief, he also has to plan things out for all the Rangers and file out paperwork for the King, not to mention take care of his own apprentice while making sure that all of the retired Rangers are comfortable. And then he...well, you get the point."

Halt nodded again.

"So don't let him intimidate you or make you angry. His bark is worse than his bite." James paused. "Do you even know what that means?"

After a moment's hesitation, Halt shook his head.

James sighed. "Never mind; I'll explain it to you once we're on the way back to Redmont."

"James?" Halt asked quietly, staring at the ground.

"Yes, Halt?" his mentor replied, glancing back down at his apprentice.

"Was that a meeting or an exam?"

* * *

Oh, I love Halt and his sense of humor. XD Please review and tell me what you think!


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